SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) - - Students at various colleges and universities around the state went through a disaster training program last week at the USD Sanford School of Medicine.
South Dakota is the only state offering this type of training through their state medical school.
Over four hundred students from USD, South Dakota State, the University of Sioux Falls and Mount Marty College took part in the training.
Dr. Matt Owens, a family practice physician in Redfield, helped organize the event in 2001. He says they try to touch on a number of possible scenarios.
“It’s an all-hazards approach,” Owens said. “We could be talking flood, or fire, or active shooter. We try to, as a catch-all, train for a variety of things.”
Owens says the feedback from the students helps contribute to the agenda each year and they modify it annually.
“Every year we are presenting modifications that are basically student directed,” Owens said. “If you looked at Disaster Training Day in 2018, it would be different than the one we did in 2016. We’re teaching students from a variety of health care professions.”
(Jerry Oster, WNAX, contributed to this report)